


Double-Cross My Heart

by Night_Witch_The_Third



Category: South Park
Genre: Blackmail, Cheating, Drunk Sex, Drunken Flirting, Drunken Shenanigans, Drunkenness, Emotionally Repressed, Falling In Love, Forbidden Love, Gay Sex, Goths, Homophobic Language, Homosexuality, Humor, Hurt/Comfort, Love Confessions, Multi, Mystery, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Party, Partying, Rare Pairings, Revenge, Romance, Rough Sex, Secret Crush, Secret Relationship, Secrets, Sex, True Love, Underage Sex, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2019-05-22
Packaged: 2019-08-23 19:35:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 5
Words: 10,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16625138
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Night_Witch_The_Third/pseuds/Night_Witch_The_Third
Summary: When a psychology class forces everyone to write down their deepest, darkest secrets, nobody is that worried because their secrets are going to be buried in a capsule, never to be seen again. But when the capsule goes missing and the blackmailing begins, everyone starts pointing fingers. Stan and his friends must figure out who the blackmailer is before it's too late.





	1. The Party

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is an idea that I wanted to do for a while. I love secret sharing stories and the psychology of having one, and I love South Park, so I decided to combine the two. It took me forever to decide what everyone’s secrets were going to be, and who the blackmailer would be, but I finally managed to think of everything. Anyway, hope you enjoy it, it won’t be too dark, but it will probably be the most serious I get with South Park. Don’t worry, it’s still going to be good in the end and I can’t let it get too serious.

One Month Ago

Loud, thumping music was blaring overhead, and it was making Stan sick. He could barely hear his own thoughts with how loud it was being played, let alone knowing what someone else would say if they tried to talk to him. It didn’t help that he was feeling kind of tipsy. Sure, he was only seventeen, so he really shouldn’t be drinking, but that didn’t stop him when he was ten and it wasn’t going to stop him now.  
Kyle sat next to him, rolling his eyes as Stan downed another beer. He was the designated driver of their friends, and he never liked the smell of alcohol, let alone the taste of it. Out of the four of them, he was the only one who didn’t drink the occasional beer.  
“This is the problem with Token’s parties,” Kyle shouted over the music. “His parents are never home, he knows where the wine and alcohol is kept, so I always have to come to bring you guys back home.”  
“You don’t have to wait for us,” Stan pointed out. “You could just wait for me to call you for a ride or something.” Kyle rolled his eyes again.  
“Yeah right,” he replied. “The last time I did that, you couldn’t remember how to use your phone and wandered out into the middle of the street where I almost ran you over.”  
“I can’t help it, Kyle,” Stan whined. “You know drinking helped to stop me from literally seeing shit all the time. Besides, I’m making sure not to drink too much.”  
“No, I’m making sure you don’t drink too much,” Kyle sighed. “If it were up to you, you’d be under the table or dying of alcohol poisoning by now.” Stan muttered something under his breath that he was glad that Kyle couldn’t hear. “Where’s Kenny and Fat ass?” Kyle wondered, looking around. “I’d like to get out of here.”  
“I saw Kenny playing spin the bottle with some of the girls earlier,” Stan replied. “I’m sure they’re fine though.”  
Kyle glared at him before pulling out his phone. He didn’t know if Kenny or Cartman would be able to hear their phones over this noise, but he went ahead and sent them both a text anyway. He was surprised when Kenny appeared two minutes later, holding a wine glass in his hand and looking faintly annoyed.  
“Really, you guys?” he said when he was within earshot. “You want to go already?”  
“We’ve been here for two hours, Ken,” Kyle pointed out.  
“Boy, you do not know how parties work, Kyle,” Kenny replied. Kyle glared up at him but didn’t reply as Kenny looked around, slightly confused. “Where’s Cartman?” he wondered.  
“I don’t know,” Kyle told him. “I sent him a text, but he must not have gotten it.”  
“Should we wait for him?” Stan asked. “I mean, I’m sure he can just walk home, right?”  
Before Kyle or Kenny could reply, the phone in Kyle’s hand buzzed, and he looked down at it. It was from Cartman all right. Mostly misspelled and with terrible grammar. He glanced back up at his two remaining friends.  
“Apparently Cartman found another ride, so he told us not to wait for him,” he told them. “At least, I think that’s what he wrote. He misspelled every word.”  
“Grammar Nazi,” Kenny muttered under his breath, glad that Kyle couldn’t hear him over the music. He and Stan both leaned heavily on their sober friend as the red head quickly led the way to the door and out into the night.

In actuality, Cartman was in one of the guest rooms of Token’s house, completely naked and thrusting himself in and out of Red. The girl was letting out drunken moans of pleasure as he made love to her. They had had way too much to drink at the party, and in the morning, they would both realize what a bad idea this was, but at the moment they thought this was a great idea. Neither Red or Cartman could keep their hands off each other.  
“Oh, oh, oh!” Red sighed, grabbing onto the bed posts behind her. “You feel so amazing!”  
“You do too,” Cartman gasped, sitting up and staring down at her.  
They were shaking the bed something fierce, so it was a good thing that the thumping music downstairs drowned them out. They had already tried two other positions, but right now, Cartman was more than happy to stare down at her and watch her buck underneath him. Red’s breasts bounced in the most pleasing way, and it made Cartman thrust deeper into her. She cried out with pleasure as he did, dissolving into a fit of giggles a moment later that was echoed by him.  
Then, Cartman’s phone started vibrating on the nightstand next to them and Cartman couldn’t help but roll his eyes. Kyle was such a buzz kill at parties, he didn’t know why they kept bringing him. He paused for only a moment to quickly reply to the text before going right back to attempting to hump Red’s brains out. He was sure his friends wouldn’t care that he wasn’t going home with them. And he certainly wasn’t planning on going anywhere any time soon.

Henrietta and Pete watched the three of them leave from a far corner of the room. They were hoping that if they stayed in the corner, no one would notice them or try to talk to them. It was working so far. Though, neither of them really wanted to be there. They had been invited by Stan, and Michael had insisted on going, so they were kind of stuck there. Henrietta let out a long, annoyed sigh.  
“You’d think if Michael was so adamant on coming he would be here with us,” she growled to Pete. Her friend let out an equally annoyed sigh.  
“I can’t believe he ditched us like that,” he agreed. “I haven’t seen him for half an hour, have you?” Henrietta shook her head in reply. “And the guy who invited us just left.”  
“I know,” she said. “We should just leave. This party is just full of conformists anyway.”  
“Shouldn’t we wait a little longer for Michael?” Pete asked, looking at her in surprise.  
“You know there was only one reason why I wanted to come in the first place,” Henrietta pointed out. “And that reason just walked through the front door.” Pete’s eyes softened.  
“Yeah, I know,” he replied, barely above the music. In a louder voice he added, “Five more minutes, then we can get out of here.” Henrietta let out a sigh.  
“Deal,” she replied. “I just don’t know what caused him to just suddenly up and leave like that. It was like someone had set him on fire or something.”  
“He has been acting rather weird and jumpy lately,” Pete said thoughtfully. “I wonder what is up with him. He doesn’t want to hang out as much anymore either, the dick.”  
“Come on, he’s ditched us enough times already,” Henrietta argued. “I think we’re allowed to ditch him at least once. Plus, Firkle will get all whiney that we didn’t bring him along despite the fact that none of us wanted to be here.”  
“Fine,” Pete replied, forcing himself to stand up. “But I’m blaming you if he gets mad at us.” Henrietta stood and looped an arm through his and they quickly made for the door without another thought.

Wendy wasn’t normally a drinker. She was going to wait until she was twenty-one, like a normal person should. But then her friends wouldn’t stop bugging her. Red kept daring her to do some shots, and finally Wendy couldn’t take it. There was no way she could get herself drunk anyway, not with the liquor provided.  
But, five shots later and Wendy could barely remember her own name. This was why she never got drunk. At least, she was pretty sure that’s why she never drunk. She couldn’t really remember at the moment.  
She couldn’t find Stan anywhere either. And with her drunk brain, everyone was looking attractive. She had already flirted with Butters, Bebe, and a lamp. When Bebe caught her trying to make out with it, she knew she had to keep an eye on her friend.  
Bebe hadn’t been drinking because she was the designated driver of her friends. That, and she didn’t want to look like an idiot in front of her crush. She had seen her crush with another group of girls walking by, distracting her for a very small moment from Wendy. When she turned back, her friend was gone.  
Muttering a curse under her breath, she quickly stalked off to look for Wendy. The last thing she needed was for her drunk friend to wander off and get hit by a car or something. Or electrocute herself trying to French a lamp.  
She couldn’t see Nichole or Red anymore either. But they weren’t nearly as drunk as Wendy, so Bebe wasn’t worried about them. Yet. She could see Token, Craig and Tweek across the room talking to each other, so she quickly hurried over to them.  
“Hey guys!” she greeted them in a shout. “Have you seen Wendy at all? I turned my back for one moment and she was gone!”  
“Sorry, I haven’t,” Token replied, shrugging. Craig and Tweek both shook their heads.  
“Have you seen Clyde?” Craig asked her. “I want to leave, but I have to wait for him because I promised I’d drive him and Tweek home. But we can’t find him anywhere.” Bebe shook her head in reply.  
“You know, Craig,” Token said. “If you want to take Tweek home, I can bring Clyde home myself when the party’s over. I mean, I live here, after all.”  
“Thanks, Token,” Craig sighed with relief. “Come on, Tweek. Good luck finding Wendy, Bebe.” Then he took his boyfriend’s twitching hand and quickly pulled him away. Bebe watched them go before turning back to Token. For some reason, he looked shocked.  
“So, can you keep an eye for Wendy?” she asked him.  
“Oh, I don’t think you have to look very far for her,” Token said, pointing. Bebe turned to where he was indicating and let out a groan.  
Wendy was on a couch on the other side of the room. She was laying on top of Jason, and they were making out like crazy. Even from where she stood, Bebe could see that Wendy had already started to unbutton her blouse. She sighed with frustration and marched over to them, grabbing and yanking on her friend’s black hair.  
“Ow!” Wendy whined as Bebe pulled her away. “What was that for?”  
“Friends don’t let friends drink and cheat,” Bebe growled at her. “What do you think you’re doing, making out with Jason like that? What about Stan?” Wendy blinked slowly at her, like she didn’t know what she was saying.  
“I thought that was Stan,” she slurred. Bebe let out a sigh and rolled her eyes.  
“You’re lucky only Token and I saw that,” she snapped. “Now, let’s get out here before you try anything else stupid. And let’s just hope that you and Jason won’t remember any of this in the morning.”  
Wendy grumbled under her breath, but didn’t put up much of a fight as Bebe dragged her towards the door. This was why she didn’t drink. This was why none of them should drink. Bebe just hoped nothing else would happen at this party and that nobody else made some dumb decision while they were there. She didn’t think she could take it.


	2. One Month Later

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if I don’t get these chapters out as fast as I want to. I have a full-time job now, so I don’t get home until around five, and I have to go to bed around ten, otherwise I’m too tired in the morning. But I’ll try to work on every one of my stories as much as I can. Just try to be patient.

Stan stared blankly up at the wall where the clock was hanging, wishing he could make it move faster. He didn’t want to think the cliché of time seeming to slow down when you were bored out of your mind, but time seemed to slow down when you were bored out of your mind. And Stan usually got bored when he was in school. Or maybe it had something to do with his date with Wendy he had the other night.  
His girlfriend had seemed rather jumpy for the past month. She constantly looked worried, and she wouldn’t say why. Every time he asked her, she would just tell him that she was fine. Stan wanted to believe her, but Cartman had the same look on his face. True, he hid it slightly better than Wendy, but it was still enough to worry Stan. They both looked guilty about something, and Stan just hoped they weren’t feeling guilty about the same thing.  
“All right, class,” a stern voice said suddenly, breaking into his thoughts. “Before we leave for the day, I want to announce the homework.” The Psychology class groaned and their teacher frowned at them. “There’s no need for that,” she reprimanded them. “Now, this homework assignment is very important because it will be leading us into our next project.”  
Butters raised his hand. “Will this project involve anything painful?” he asked her. The teacher, Mrs. Simone, rolled her eyes with a sigh.  
“This is psychology, Mr. Stotch,” she replied. “Not gym class. This project won’t be painful in the least.” Butters was about to point out at that this was what she had said about the last project and they all knew how that had turned out, but Mrs. Simone had already moved on.  
“Anyway,” she said, clapping her hands together. “Everyone is to write down their deepest, darkest secret on a sheet of paper and bring it to class on Monday. Make sure your name is on it, but don’t let anyone else see it.”  
“If no one else is going to see it, why are we putting our names on it, or writing it?” Stan asked, raising his hand. The teacher glared at him.  
“Just do what I told you,” she snapped. “Class dismissed,” she added as the final bell rang. Everyone slumped out of their seats with groans and random grumblings. Stan waited near the front and quickly joined his friends in the hallway.  
“I don’t know why she expects us to actually do what she says,” Cartman grumbled. “I could write any shit on that paper and she would never know.”  
“Actually, she would,” Kenny replied. “I heard from another kid who had her class before say that she reads them herself, to make sure no one bullshit the project. She can spot a fake secret from ten miles away, too.”  
“Did he say what the project actually was?” Stan asked. Kenny shrugged.  
“I wasn’t really talking to him,” he said. “I was just eavesdropping. And I didn’t really think anything of it.”  
“As long as she doesn’t force us to read our secrets out loud, I don’t see what the problem is,” Stan sighed. “I don’t really think I could bear it if anyone found out my secret.” Cartman gave him an evil grin.  
“Really?” he said in a sneaky voice. “And what is your secret, exactly?” Stan glared at him, his lips drawn back into a snarl.  
“None of your business, fat ass,” he snapped. Cartman held up his hands defensively.  
“I’m only trying to get your goat,” he replied.  
“Yeah right,” Kyle said, rolling his eyes. “We all know you would blackmail anyone with their secret if you had the chance. You haven’t changed in the sixteen years that you’ve been alive, fat ass.” Cartman glared at him, but didn’t reply because that was something he would totally do if given the chance.  
He glanced at his three friends and wondered what their secrets were, anyway. He knew what he would be writing down, but he wished he knew Kyle’s secret so he could use that against him. All four of them refused to look anyone else in the eye, as if they were already thinking about their secrets.  
Just then, Butters caught up to them, also looking a bit nervous.  
“Heya, fellas,” he greeted with a tight laugh. “That’s quite the assignment Mrs. Simone dropped on us, huh? I don’t think I could have anyone know my secret, even if it is a teacher.” Cartman let out a snort of laughter.  
“Yeah right,” he laughed. “There’s no way you have a secret, Butters. Let alone one that you would be nervous about!”  
Butters gave him a hard, serious stare that for some reason made Cartman nervous.  
“I can hide things better than you think, Eric,” he said in a low voice before quickly walking away and disappearing around a corner. The four friends stared after him in surprise.  
“Have you ever seen Butters look that serious?” Kenny asked after a moment.  
“Never,” Stan replied, shaking his head in disbelief.

Wendy and her friends were not fairing much better with the assignment. Red looked like she was on the brink of a panic attack, Nichole was wringing her hands nervously, and Heidi kept looking around, muttering under her breath. Wendy and Bebe were trying to remain calm, trying to tell themselves that no one was going to read their secrets, but it barely helped.  
“I’ve been feeling so guilty after the party, and I think Stan’s starting to notice,” Wendy whispered to Bebe in a low voice as they made their way to their lockers. “And I haven’t been able to look at Jason at all. Do you think he remembers what happened?”  
“There’s no way to know without asking,” Bebe replied. “And I don’t think that’s a great idea. But why do you feel so guilty? You were drunk at the time! It didn’t mean anything! And besides, it’s not like you slept with him or anything.”  
“I know,” Wendy sighed. “But I still can’t help feeling guilty about it. Maybe writing it down as my secret well help me not feel so guilty anymore.”  
“Guilty about what?” Heidi asked, catching up to them. Wendy gulped.  
“Uh, nothing,” she lied. Her friend gave her a suspicious look, but didn’t comment.  
“Have you thought about what you’re going to write for the assignment?” Bebe asked Heidi before the silence could lengthen.  
“A little bit,” Heidi replied. “I don’t know why everyone’s stressing out so much. Nobody else is going to read our secrets. I’m sure the teacher will make sure we actually did the assignment, but she’s probably not going to actually read them.”  
“I guess you’re right,” Wendy sighed. “I am kind of curious about what we’re going to be doing with our secrets, though. And I wonder what everyone else’s secrets are.”  
“Guess we’ll never know,” Heidi replied.  
“It’s probably for the best,” Bebe added. “Who knows what kind of deep dark things some of our classmates are hiding? Or what they’d be willing to do to keep their secrets?”

Aside from Stan and his friends and the five girls, three out of four of the goths (Firkle was too young) were also in their Psychology class, as well as Mike Makowski. Craig, Tweek, Clyde, Token, Jimmy and Jason were in the class too. It was an interesting group, to say the least.  
“I still don’t get this assignment,” Henrietta complained as the goths walked towards her house. “We’re either going to read our secrets out loud, which is so not happening, or we’re going to do some sort of bullshit about ‘letting it go’ or some crap.”  
“Either way, the whole thing is pointless,” Michael agreed. They reached the corner of a street, and Michael suddenly veered away from his friends towards a different path. The other goths stopped and turned to him.  
“Where do you think you’re going?” Firkle growled at him. Michael froze and took a moment to put on a straight face before turning to them.  
“I have something else I need to do today,” he told his friends in an even voice.  
“No way,” Pete snapped. “You are not ditching us again! It’s Friday! That means it’s poetry night! There’s no way you’re skipping that!” Michael blinked at him in surprise. How could he forget?  
“I-I’m sorry,” he stuttered. “But I really can’t change…my plans…”  
“Since when did you turn into a conformist business asshole?” Henrietta interrupted. She grabbed his arm and started dragging him towards her house once more, ignoring his protests. “There’s no way whatever you were planning on doing is more important than us.”  
Michael let out a sigh and quickly pulled out his phone, sent a quick text, then pocketed it before letting himself being dragged forward. He supposed he should make it up to his friends for constantly ditching them. He knew he had a problem, but he didn’t know what to do about it. And there was no way in hell that he would ever tell any of them what he did when he was leaving his friends behind. If they ever did find out…He shuddered just thinking about it.  
But Michael wasn’t the only one who was keeping a secret. He still remembered last year when Pete and Henrietta decided to start dating each other, only to break up a week later. And they were so nonchalant about it that Michael and Firkle didn’t find out that they had broken up until about three weeks later. What was weird was that neither of them were angry or heartbroken, yet they both refused to tell their two friends why they had broken up in the first place. Or why they had gotten together, really.  
As he glanced at Pete and Henrietta now, he saw them walking side-by-side. Nothing about them gave any indication that they had suddenly started dating and had broken up just as suddenly. The only answer Pete would ever give to what happened was just stating it was because Henrietta was his best friend. Firkle and Michael still didn’t know what he was talking about.  
“I am so glad I’m not taking that class,” Firkle said, breaking him out of his thoughts. “It sounds like a nightmare. Like a brainwashing cult or something.”  
Michael didn’t realize that they had already reached Henrietta’s house, but she was just unlocking the door and letting them through. None of them spoke again until they were all sitting around in her room.  
“You know when you get to your junior year we’re going to make sure you also take this Psychology class, right Firkle?” Henrietta asked, looking over at their youngest friend. Firkle blinked in shock at her.  
“B-but you’re all going to be in college by then!” he stuttered. Michael gave him an evil grin in response.  
“Yeah? So?” he said.  
“Think of it as payback for betraying us during the emo incident,” Pete added, staring down at his book that he had already gotten out. Firkle glared over at him.  
“You are never going to let that go, are you?” he growled.  
“Never,” Pete replied nonchalantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really don’t want to just go through every group of characters and have them say more or less the same thing. So, I’m going to end this chapter here. Next time, we’ll see them working on the project, and see what’s going to happen. After that, it’s just going to go downhill from there. Hopefully, we’ll also get Craig and his gang more into the story, because they’re going to be important too.


	3. The Secret Project

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, with this chapter, I’ll hopefully be revealing some of their secrets. I already know how pretty much everything is going to play out, I’m just not sure in what order. Plus, I suck at beginning chapters. When we get into the meat of things is where I start to shine. Hopefully I can entertain you until then.

Stan sat at his desk, staring at the blank sheet of paper he was supposed to be writing his deepest, darkest secret on. He didn’t know if he could bring himself to do it. He couldn’t do it. But he couldn’t fake a different secret either. But what if his secret got out? What would Wendy think of him? What would his friends think of him?  
He let out a sigh and turned to the clock on the wall. Ten hours. He had ten hours to force himself to write down his terrible secret and turn it into class the next day. He couldn’t take the shame of it all. What if people got the wrong idea about him? What if his friends stopped talking to him? What if Wendy broke up with him?  
He shook his head in anger. He was being ridiculous. No one was going to read his secret. He didn’t even know if the teacher would be reading it. There was no way anyone would find out what his secret was. Taking a deep breath, he picked up a pen and wrote down his secret.  
Glancing up at the clock, he figured he had time to call Kyle at least and see if he was having the same dilemma he had. Kyle picked up on the third ring.  
“Hey dude, what’s up?” Stan heard him say.  
“Nothing much,” Stan replied. “I just finished writing down my secret for Psychology class.” There was a slight pause on the other end.  
“You finished it the day before it’s due?” Kyle asked. “What took you so long? Did you just not have a secret?” Stan wished that was the case.  
“I’ve just been really nervous about it,” he admitted. “I don’t know what I’d do if someone ever saw my secret, and I’ve just been psyching myself out. It’s scary to think what would happen if someone saw my deepest darkest secret.”  
“Ugh, you don’t have to tell me about it,” Kyle told him. “I only finished mine just last night because I was trying to figure out if I could get away with writing something else. But then I reminded myself that no one was going to read it, so I just wrote the truth.”  
“Same here,” Stan agreed with a sigh. “Besides, I think a fake secret would be worse than the truth, because if someone did find it out, you’d have to fight to keep something you know isn’t true from getting out.”  
“Fair point,” his friend replied. “I just hope we won’t be doing anything too terrible with our secrets. Maybe she’s going to have us set them on fire or something.”  
“Just as long as she doesn’t have us trade them with someone else and see how long we can keep another person’s secret, I think I’ll be good,” Stan said.  
“Don’t say that!” Kyle hissed. “Then it might happen!” There was a playfulness to his voice, so Stan knew he was joking, but there was a slight edge to it as well. He longed to ask Kyle what his secret was, but then he would have to give his secret in return, and he knew he couldn’t do it. He didn’t want anyone knowing his secret, even his best friend. Especially his best friend, actually.  
“I guess we better get some sleep to prepare ourselves for the tortures of tomorrow,” Stan joked after a moment of silence. There was a sigh on the other end.  
“Yeah,” Kyle agreed. “See you tomorrow, then.” And then he hung up.  
Stan let out a sigh himself and slowly stood up. He pulled out an envelope and glanced at his secret one last time before hastily stuffing it in and writing his name on the outside. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes, then crawled into his bed.  
Yes, no one could know his secret. Especially Kyle and Wendy. He certainly didn’t need the entire school to know that he had been having gay dreams about his best friend.

Tweek, on the other hand, stayed up until four in the morning worrying about his own secret. Actually, it was more like he was freaking out about it. He didn’t know if he could handle the pressure! His secret being revealed could ruin his life!  
He thought about calling Craig for moral support, but it was still four in the morning. He didn’t want to wake him. What if he got mad at him? What if, while talking to him, he accidently blurted out his secret and Craig got even madder at him!?! What if he never wanted to talk to him again? Then what would he do?  
“Ack!”   
He was being ridiculous! Their teacher wouldn’t assign them something she thought would be bad for them or ruin their lives, would she? Would she? Probably, but what were the odds that his secret would ever be found out?  
Tiredness suddenly caught up to him and he let out a sigh. It was doing him no good worrying about it, and school was already hard enough without the lack of sleep. So, he might as well just write down his secret and go to bed. He took a deep breath and quickly wrote down his secret: I’m in love with Craig.

Bebe let out a sigh as she entered the classroom the next day, her secret envelope clutched tightly in her hand. She was terrified of what this project would be, and she just hoped that it didn’t involve reading the secret out loud at any point in time. The first thing she noticed when she walked into class was that everyone else seemed just as nervous and subdued as she was. Nobody was looking each other in the eye, and nearly every head was facing down at their own desks. There wasn’t a single word of conversation being had.  
She let out a sigh and sat near the back of the class, glad that everyone else seemed just as nervous as she was and therefor didn’t seem to notice her own behavior.  
“Jeez, you’d think that everyone here is waiting to be executed or something,” said a soft voice beside her, making her nearly jump out of her skin. Holding her chest, she turned in her seat to see Mike staring at her. He didn’t outwardly seem nervous, but his eyes told a different story. Bebe took a moment to regain her breath before speaking.  
“I think everyone is just afraid of what the teacher is going to have us do with our secrets,” Bebe said honestly. “I mean, she hasn’t even given us a hint.”  
Mike shrugged. “She’s probably going to have us bury them or burn them or something,” he replied. “Something about letting go of our burdens or something like that. I don’t know why she would expect us to actually write our true secrets though.”  
“Did you write your real secret?” Bebe asked, cocking an eyebrow at him. Mike paused for a moment to think it over.  
“I mean, yeah, but I could have chosen to write anything,” he mumbled.  
Bebe let out a sigh and turned back towards the front of the classroom. Mike was probably right about what they were going to do about their secrets, but that didn’t make her feel any better about it. Sure, her secret, on the outside, was nothing special. After all, there were plenty of other lesbians out there, but she still felt strangely guilty about being one herself.  
Wendy was the only one who knew about her secret, of course. She didn’t know what she would do without Wendy’s support. And the fact that Wendy happily and without hesitation had continued to be her best friend had brought Bebe to tears. She had been afraid that her friend would have been disgusted by her, or worried that Bebe had a crush on her or something, but the thought hadn’t even crossed the dark-haired girl’s mind.  
“We’ve been best friends forever,” Wendy had said. “Why would I care if you liked girls or not?” Bebe remembered staring at her in surprise.  
“What if I had a crush on you or something?” she had asked. Wendy shrugged.  
“Yeah? So?” she replied. “I’d be flattered.”  
Bebe smiled at the memory. Wendy didn’t care if she was a lesbian. That should have been all that mattered. But, at the same time, she shuddered at what her parents would think. They had plans for their perfect little daughter, and she had a feeling that her liking girls would throw a wrench into their plans. And aside from that, she knew she wasn’t ready to take the whisperings and taunting and looks of disgusts she would receive if the school knew her secret.  
She looked over at Wendy, who, like everyone else, was staring nervously down at her desk. Bebe could easily guess what her friend had written for her secret. Unfortunately, Wendy did remember what had happened at the party the day after. She had asked Bebe not to tell anyone that she had kissed Jason, but she really didn’t have to. Bebe would take her friend’s secret to the grave if she had to without being asked.  
Jason, she noticed, was looking around with a paranoid look in his eye, and Bebe wondered if he remembered that night as well. She wasn’t going to ask him, of course, lest he had really forgotten and she ended up reminding him. But something in the look on his face told Bebe that he had written a secret similar to that of Wendy’s.  
The one good thing that had come out of that whole party was that Wendy vowed never to drink again. One month later, and she seemed to be sticking with that promise, but then again, there hadn’t been any other parties since then.  
Wendy looked up from her desk and caught Bebe’s eye and gave her a reassuring smile before going back to her desk. The silence thickened, and in that moment, Bebe wondered what everyone else’s secrets were. Mike had given nothing away in their brief conversation, but she wondered what Stan and Kyle’s secrets could possibly be.  
If Stan’s has anything to do with willfully cheating on Wendy, I’ll kill him, Bebe thought to herself, glancing over at him. Stan was making light conversation with Kenny, and he seemed to be avoiding looking at Kyle. This tension is killing me.  
Mercifully, Mrs. Simone finally entered the room, carrying a large, metal container and an armful of shovels. Everyone in class leaned forward in their seats, instantly interested in what their teacher was planning.  
“Hello, students,” she greeted them in that soothing yet monotone voice of hers. “I hope you’ve all written your secrets like I asked.” Everyone held up their papers to show that they had. “Good. Now, sometimes a secret can eat away at you until you have the urge to confess. Even just writing a secret on a piece of paper can alleviate some of your worries. But that wouldn’t be much of an assignment if I only had you do that.”  
She set the metal container, which was cylinder shaped and had a handle on the top, onto her desk before turning to her class. “Burying a secret is not the best course of action,” she continued. “But sometimes necessary to moving forward. So, today, we are going to all put our secrets to rest, literally and metaphorically. We will be going to the nearby cemetery to bury all of our deepest, darkest secrets.”  
Everyone let out a sigh of relief. They weren’t going to have to read their secrets after all!  
“We will all come up, one by one and place your secret into this container,” Mrs. Simone instructed. “Maybe someday, in the distant future, someone will dig up this capsule and see our fully confessed sins.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a folded piece of paper that had her own name on it. “I have taken the liberty of writing my own secret down and shall be the first to let go of their secret.”  
With that said, she tugged on the handle of the capsule until it opened and placed the paper inside. She then had everyone line up and place their own sheet of paper into the capsule. Bebe was one of the last ones in line, and she noticed how everyone before her seemed to hesitate for a moment before placing their secret into the container, herself included.  
“You’re all already feeling a weight lifting off your shoulders, aren’t you?” Mrs. Simone asked as Bebe stepped up to place her secret in.  
“I know I do,” Bebe replied. There were murmurs of agreement behind her from the rest of the class. Once everyone had placed in their secrets, their teacher closed the hatch, twisting two little clamps so it would stay shut, then turned back to her class.  
“Now, everyone grab a shovel and follow me,” she ordered.  
Grumbling slightly, the class did what they were told, grabbing a shovel as they filed out of the room and into the hallway. Mrs. Simone led the way down the hall to the main entrance of the school and out onto the street. It was a short five-minute walk from the high school to the South Park cemetery, and everyone already seemed in much higher spirits.  
“I don’t know what we were all worried about,” Bebe said to Heidi, who was walking next to her. “It’s nice to know that we won’t be revealing our secrets after all.”  
“I know what you mean,” Heidi sighed. “I would have died of embarrassment if I had to read my secret out loud. But, it’s nice to know that our teacher isn’t that cruel.”  
“I don’t know if I can keep my secret,” Red said in a quiet voice right behind them. “Even if we’re burying them for good.” Bebe looked around at her in surprise, wanting desperately to know what she meant by that. But Red had looked away and gave Bebe the feeling that she wouldn’t tell her even if she asked.  
There was a black, old, cinematic tree on a hill overlooking the cemetery when they arrived. A hole had already been dug up underneath it, and that’s where Mrs. Simone led her class. She walked around to one side of the hole and faced her class once more. Stan and Craig, carrying the capsule in between them, walked over and slowly lowered the thing into the hole. Then, Mrs. Simone had each of them throw in a shovel of dirt into the hole, one by one. They all figured it probably symbolized something, but at that point no one really cared.  
“And with this, our burdens are lifted,” the teacher said as Token threw in the last shovelful and patted the earth down. “Hopefully now our secrets will be a little easier to bear and we will all sleep a little easier tonight.”  
The group cheered. Then they all started the trek back to the school, their hearts considerably lighter. Except for one person, who looked back at the hill where everyone’s secrets were all buried, their mind already racing and a sinister idea forming in their head.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m going to end this chapter here because I think it’s a good place to end on. So, we already know quite a few people’s secrets. Anybody want to make some guesses on what everyone else’s secrets will be? Some of them won’t be quite what you expect, I hope.  
> Anyway, let me know what you guys think and I’ll hopefully get the next chapter out a little quicker. I’ve just had something happen in my life that I’ve been having to deal with, and it’s been kind of hard to write recently. Hopefully I’ll be out of this funk soon.


	4. Blackheart

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What a bunch of bombshells I laid down last chapter, huh? Anyway, new chapter! Some shit is going to start to go down today! And maybe we’ll find out Kyle and Kenny’s secrets soon. But probably not. But we will be seeing the start of the blackmailing this chapter! So, there’s that.

Kenny woke the next morning feeling considerably lighter than he had the past few days. Maybe their teacher was right in giving them that secret project really was a good idea. He had never felt this relieved before, and he was pretty sure only part of it came from not having to share his secret with anyone else. He shuddered to think what would happen if Token had found out. Or Cartman, which might have been even worse. He didn’t want to even think of all the horrible things Cartman would have him do if he had found out his secret.  
He was already in a much better mood by the time he greeted his friends as usual at the bus stop. Although, the project had forced him to think about his deepest, darkest secret. It was something he didn’t like to think about, and it still shamed him five years later.  
“Hey Ken, whatcha thinking about?” Cartman said suddenly, cutting into his thoughts. Kenny turned and gave him a look.  
“What makes you believe that I’m thinking about anything?” he wondered.  
“You had a guilty look on your face,” Kyle told him. Kenny let out a sigh.  
“I can’t stop thinking about what I wrote down for my secret,” he confessed. “It’s been eating away at me and I’m just glad that writing it down actually kind of worked. It’s amazing how confessing to no one really seems to help.”  
“Is this really all we’re going to be talking about for the next week?” Cartman growled, rolling his eyes. “We wrote down our secrets and then buried them. What is there left to talk about?” His friends looked at him in surprise.  
“Jeez, Cartman,” Stan said. “What’s got you all hot and bothered? Was your secret really that bad?” Cartman glared at him.  
“Who said this had anything to do with my secret?” he snapped. “I’m just sick of talking about that stupid assignment, that’s all! Can we talk about something else now?”  
“I’m with Fat ass,” Kyle said in a soft voice. “I’d just rather forget about this whole thing already.”  
That was going to be harder to do than they expected, because that was the only thing their friends seemed to be talking about as well. No one would shut up about how nerve wracking the whole thing had been and how relieved they were now that it was over. Everyone was also constantly trying to get each other to reveal their secrets to no avail.  
“Give it time, Cartman,” Kenny said encouragingly. “In a couple of days everyone will have forgotten about the entire project and we won’t have to think about what we wrote down until someone decides to dig it up.”  
Cartman couldn’t relax, however. That capsule buried in the ground lay heavy on his mind, and his thoughts kept wandering back to it and the secrets that it contained. What he wouldn’t give to know everyone else’s secrets, and what he wouldn’t do to make sure his own secret stay hidden forever…

The room was a modest bedroom. Several letters were laying on the desk beside the bed as a person sat there, tipping the chair back with their legs casually crossed on the table. They had an amused grin on their face as they read over what was written on each paper.  
The person’s classmates certainly had some juicy stuff to work with. There was not one, not two, but three affairs going on in that classroom. Looks like someone was sleeping with their friend’s girlfriend. Or at least, he had slept with her once. At a certain party. Oh, and it looks like someone else got pregnant from her one night stand and hasn’t told anyone yet!  
“Lot of closeted homosexuals in our class too,” the person muttered to themselves. “Looks like there’s about five of them. Pity.”  
The teenager chuckled to themselves. Two of the homosexuals were even having one of the three affairs. What a treat. Their classmates weren’t going to know what hit them.  
“Two people in love with Wendy,” the person gasped, reading over two of the papers. “Well, isn’t that something? I wonder if poor Stan even knows? I wonder if Wendy does? Hmm…” They looked over the papers again.  
They found it interesting how a lot of their classmates seemed to have gone on a theme. A bunch of affairs, a bunch of secret crushes, and a bunch of closeted gays. They could work with this. Only three secrets didn’t fall into one of those three categories. But they were still useful. Already a plan was formulating. They would all pay soon enough.

Clyde woke with a start as lightning lit up his room and a loud crash of thunder followed shortly after. He looked around, dazed, trying to figure out what had woken him. It wasn’t the thunder and lightning, he hadn’t been afraid of that since he was five. It probably had something to do with the dream he had just had. And the painful memory of what had happened. A shudder ran through him as he thought of it now.  
The clock on his nightstand told him that it was almost one in the morning. Figuring he wasn’t going to be able to fall back asleep anytime soon, he reached over to his nightstand and unplugged his charging phone. He figured he’d just play some Bejeweled or something until he could fall back asleep, but he paused when he saw that he had a bunch of new message.  
“Who would be texting me at this hour?” Clyde muttered to himself. The number wasn’t one he recognized either. Curiosity taking over him, he opened the first text and almost dropped his phone in his shock. There were only four words written, and they sent a shiver down his spine in pure terror.  
I KNOW YOUR SECRET.  
A cold sweat formed over him as he stared blankly at the message. This couldn’t be happening! There was no way whoever this was knew his secret! With shaking hands, he continued to scroll down and saw his secret stated clearly back at him.  
IF YOU DON’T DO EXACTLY AS I SAY, I WILL EXPOSE YOUR SECRET TO THE ENTIRE SCHOOL read the third text. Followed by a text signature: BLACKHEART.  
Clyde felt himself start to hyperventilate. How did this person know? There was only one other person who knew his secret, but he knew it couldn’t be them because they had as much to lose from this as him. How could he have let this happen in the first place?  
With blurred vision, he slowly texted a response.  
CLYDE: How do you know?  
It took a long time for this “Blackheart” to text back, but eventually they did.  
I HAVE MY WAYS. MAYBE I HAVE AN INFORMANT OR SOMETHING. NOW, ARE YOU GOING TO DO WHAT I WANT, OR WILL I BE SHOWING YOUR SECRET TO EVERYONE? DON’T WORRY, YOU DON’T HAVE TO DECIDE NOW. I’LL GIVE YOU A DAY OR TWO. BUT DON’T WAIT TOO LONG! ;)  
Clyde stared down at his phone, his vision almost becoming too blurry to read what it said. Then he realized he had tears in his eyes and he quickly wiped them away. He could barely breathe, and his whole body was shaking. This couldn’t be happening! It had to fake! Who could do something like this? When he looked back down at his phone, there was a new message.  
SWEET DREAMS.  
Clyde tossed his phone back on his nightstand and curled up on his bed. Why was this happening to him? How could he ever sleep again knowing that someone else knew his secret and could at any moment reveal it to the entire school? What would his friends think of him if they ever found out? And it was all his stupid fault in the first place!  
“What am I going to do?” he groaned to the dark, empty room. There was another flash of lightning, and the tears flowed harder than ever down Clyde’s face.

Kyle almost didn’t want to go to school, but he knew he had to. He needed to know if his friends had gotten the same message he did. He didn’t know if it would be better or worse if he was the only one who was being blackmailed. But he didn’t know if he could even look at his friends without breaking down.  
He asked his mom to drive him to school, because with the state he was in, he really shouldn’t be trusted to get behind a wheel. His mom tried to make conversation while driving, but he was silent the entire ride to school.  
“Are you ok, bubby?” his mom asked as she pulled up to the parking lot. “You seem awfully quiet today. And you look worried about something.” Kyle let out a sigh.  
“I’m fine,” he lied. “I’m just feeling tired, that’s all.”  
As soon as he stepped into class, he could see that his fears were justified. What yesterday was a relaxed and joyful day had now reverted back to the paranoid looks and obvious fear on everyone’s faces. A lot of his friends were trying to hide the worry on their faces, and to an outside observer, they would have succeeded.  
“Hey Stan,” Kyle greeted in a low voice, sitting down next to his friend. Stan let out a start and looked at him in surprise before relaxing slightly at the sight of him.  
“Oh, hey Kyle,” he replied. Glancing around to make sure no one was listening, Kyle leaned forward a bit and lowered his voice even more.  
“Did you get a strange text message last night concerning…you know, our Psych class?” he asked him. Stan stared back at him, wide-eyed and didn’t speak for a moment. That was really all the proof Kyle needed, but he waited for him to speak anyway.  
“D-Did you?” his friend asked. Kyle sighed and nodded.  
“I thought it was just someone trying to freak me out because they heard about our project or something, but then they showed me the paper with my secret written and everything,” he told him, struggling to keep his voice calm.  
“Me too,” Stan whispered. “I don’t know what to do! Do I just ignore it? Should I do what they tell me? I don’t know!”  
“Calm down,” Kyle ordered, though he was freaking out inside. “I think our entire class might have gotten the same text as we did.” Stan looked at him. “I think we can use that to figure out who might be doing this.”  
“You really think so?” his friend asked, his voice still shaking slightly. Kyle nodded. “But, I don’t think anyone here showed their secret to anyone else. And our class is the only ones who know where all of our secrets are buried.”  
“Exactly,” Kyle replied. “So, either there’s someone who saw us bury the capsule, or it’s someone in our class. I think we need to go over to the hill after school and have a look at the capsule again and make sure it’s still buried.”  
“Good idea,” Stan agreed. “It might give us some clues as to who would want to blackmail us.” He glanced across the room and saw Kenny and Cartman talking in low voices at the other end of the room. “I just hope Kenny and Cartman aren’t having the same problem we are.”  
“I just hope the blackmailer isn’t Cartman,” Kyle muttered under his breath.  
The rest of the school day was tense. Kyle noticed that nobody in their psych class would look anyone else in the eye. Clyde kept falling asleep at each of his classes as if he hadn’t slept at all the night before. Token was looking absolutely paranoid, Red and Heidi looked like they were going to burst into tears at any moment, and Tweek was much twitchier and paranoid than usual. When they got to psychology, Kyle saw that Jason, Pete, Nichole and Michael hadn’t even bothered showing up to school that day.   
In fact, the only one who didn’t seem bothered by anything was Craig. Craig sat at his desk, looking as bored and deadpan as usual. He didn’t seem to notice the distress on his classmates’ faces. He just stared forward, lost in his own thoughts and not caring about anything around him. As per usual.  
“Craig seems nonchalant about all of this,” Stan pointed out in an undertone to Kyle. “Almost like he doesn’t have anything to worry about. Kind of suspicious, don’t you think?” Kyle rolled his eyes in response.  
“If Craig was blackmailing the entire class, I don’t think he would be that obvious about it,” he argued. “He didn’t seem too worried about having to write down a secret either. Maybe he just doesn’t have a secret.”  
“I guess that’s true,” Stan muttered.  
Class went on as usual, with Mrs. Simone seemingly not noticing the somber mood her class had taken on. Kyle wondered if his teacher even knew that something was wrong at all. He had a hard time concentrating on anything she was saying. His mind just kept wandering back to his secret and the text he had received.  
I KNOW YOUR SECRET.  
He couldn’t help but shudder as he thought about it. What was this person hoping to accomplish by blackmailing everyone? They couldn’t possibly be asking them all for money, could they? He looked around and couldn’t figure which one of his classmates would have reason to dig up all of their secrets.  
There was no talking as the final bell rang and they were all dismissed. Stan kept close to Kyle’s side as the two of them quickly made their way towards the front entrance of the school. They were almost there when they heard their names being called and they turned to see Kenny and Cartman hurrying towards them.  
“Where are you two going without us?” Cartman asked. Kyle flinched.  
“Nowhere,” he lied. The two of them gave him a look.  
“You’re going to see if the capsule is still there, aren’t you?” Kenny guessed. Stan and Kyle stared at him in shock.  
“How did you know that?” Stan asked.  
“Cuz we were going to do the same thing,” Kenny told him. “We also got threatening text messages, so we wanted to see if the capsule was still there. We’re not sure what we’re going to do if it is or even if it isn’t, but it’s a start.”  
Stan and Kyle exchanged glances before looking back at their two friends. “Well, there’s really no point in hiding it,” Kyle sighed. “So, let’s just go and get this over with.”  
The four of them headed the opposite direction of the parking lot and towards the cemetery. They were all silent as they walked, too afraid of what was waiting for them at the top of the hill. What they would do when they got there, they weren’t sure.  
The hill seemed untouched when they approached it. Kyle didn’t know if he should be surprised or not. He almost hoped to find the hole dug up to confirm that someone had found their secrets this way and not by some other means. At the same time, he could have denied that his secret was really his if it weren’t for the physical evidence that they had all written themselves. In that sense, he hoped that the capsule would be undisturbed.  
Cartman pulled out a couple of shovels from seemingly nowhere, and he and Stan silently got to work digging up the capsule. The other two waited with bated breath as Stan and Cartman dug further and further down, until they heard the metal clunk of one of the shovels hitting the capsule underneath.  
“It’s still there,” Stan said.  
“That could mean anything,” Kenny replied. “Open it and see if it’s all right!”  
Stan and Cartman quickly brushed away the dirt until they found the lid and the tiny clasps holding it closed. After a moment of struggling, they managed to open the compartment and almost immediately let out a gasp. It was as they had feared. The capsule was still there, but everyone’s secrets were gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m going to stop this chapter right here. Sure, it’s not too dramatic, since we already knew that someone had gotten their hands on everyone’s secrets, but still, this seemed like a good place to end it. Anyone want to guess who the blackmailer is going to be? It could be anyone! Also, who wants to guess what everyone’s secrets are? I’ll give you a shout out if you’re right (when appropriate for me to do so, obviously).  
> We’re going to see a few more people’s secrets next time, and we’ll also get into some of the blackmailing. And hopefully I’ll get some of the other characters more of the spotlight as well. We’ll see!


	5. Under A Spell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’ve already decided on everyone’s secrets before I even started writing this, but I need ideas on how everybody is going to get blackmailed. I’ve also already written about half of how each conflict is going to get resolved. This will make writing these chapters a little slower as I struggle to hint at who’s the blackmailer and reveal everyone’s secrets in an interesting way. So, that will be fun. Anyway, on to Chapter five!

“It had to be someone from class,” Stan said for about the third time. “No one else knew about the project or where we buried the damn thing. Even if someone else did see, they wouldn’t know what was buried in it, right?”  
“She’s done this project before, you know,” Kenny said, also for the third time.  
“Yes, but no one in her previous class has ever been blackmailed with their own written secret before,” Kyle pointed out with a sigh. “I really wish I had just written nonsense on that stupid paper! This entire thing was just begging for something like this to happen!”  
“What kind of secret could you possibly have anyway, Jew?” Cartman sneered. Kyle glared at him, narrowing his eyes as the fatter boy chuckled to himself.  
“What kind of secret could you possibly have, Fat Ass?” he retorted. That immediately shut him up.  
The four of them were sitting in Stan’s room, having the same linear conversation as they tried to work out what could possibly be going on. Kyle had pulled out his laptop and was laying on Stan’s bed, typing out the names of everyone in their class. The only people they had really ruled out, though, were themselves and the teacher.  
“If our teacher was the one blackmailing everyone, she would have done it with her other classes too,” Kenny reasoned. “Besides, what motivation could she have?”  
“The only problem is that everyone is being blackmailed, so I don’t think motivation is really a factor here,” Stan replied. “If it was someone with a grudge, they’d just be blackmailing one or two people, right?”  
“Unless they wanted to cover their tracks by blackmailing everybody,” Kyle pointed out. “Or it really is just the four of us being blackmailed. I’d rule that one out though, because those were looks of paranoia on everyone’s faces.”  
“I don’t know why we’re taking this so seriously anyway,” Cartman said suddenly. “I mean, this ‘Dark Heart’ asshole hasn’t even demanded anything yet! Maybe they’re just pranking everyone and they just wanted to make us all paranoid.”  
Almost as if on cue, Cartman’s phone beeped and he pulled it out. His eyes widened briefly as he looked at what was on screen, but he quickly put it back in his pocket and turned back to his friends, looking completely calm. The other three stared back at him confusion.  
“What was that?” Kenny wondered.  
“Nothing,” Cartman replied immediately. “Just a text. It doesn’t matter. So, what do you think we should do about this asshole? Let’s say we find out who this guy is? What does it matter? He still knows our secrets! Just because we’ll find out who he is doesn’t mean he’ll stop, you know.”  
“Surprisingly, Cartman has a point,” Kyle agreed. “But at the moment, we have to figure out who’s doing this and he can’t know we’re trying to find him. We can figure out what we’re going to do once we find him later.”  
“Well, at the moment, we haven’t even narrowed down the suspect list,” Kenny pointed out. “If anything, I’m even less sure than when we started!”  
“Relax, Ken,” Stan said. “Maybe we should split up. Try to follow around different people from our class. We’ll be able to keep lower profiles if we split up, and we can eliminate suspects quicker than just one at a time.”  
“Good idea,” Kyle replied. The other two nodded their agreement.  
“Ok, someone has to tail Jason, Pete, Nichole, Michael and Craig around,” Stan said, counting on his fingers. “Those four didn’t even show up to class today, and we need to know why Craig was so calm.”  
“I’ll follow them,” Kenny volunteered. “Craig likes me more than you guys, so he might be more willing to confess something to me. He’s probably not the one who’s blackmailing us, but he might know something.”  
“For the record, I think Butters is the blackmailer,” Cartman said suddenly. His friends looked at him in surprise.  
“Why do you think that?” Kenny wondered.  
“Because, you’ve seen how’s he’s been acting!” Cartman scoffed. “And besides, he could have just been putting up a façade this entire time! You know, pretending to be all happy-go-lucky, but really being a sinister mastermind this whole time.”  
“I’m just surprised you knew the word façade and used it properly in a sentence,” Kyle muttered under his breath. Stan gave him a look before turning to the larger boy.  
“Ok, Cartman, you can tail Butters then,” he said with a sigh.  
“I’ll tail Red, too,” Cartman said, faster than he meant to.  
“Why?” Kenny asked, blinking in surprise.  
“Because I don’t trust red heads,” the larger boy said immediately, glad that he had an actual excuse. He didn’t care that Kyle was glaring at him, everyone knew he thought red heads were evil, so it was totally justified. Stan let out another sigh.  
“Fine,” he said. “You can’t follow her too. Just don’t mess it up.”  
“And if she is innocent, don’t go planting fake evidence to frame her just because she has red hair,” Kyle growled at him. Cartman gave him a shocked expression.  
“What kind of monster do you think I am?” he gasped.  
“A pretty big one,” Kyle snapped back.  
“Don’t worry, guys,” Stan said before an argument could break out. “We’re going to get to the bottom of this, before all our lives are ruined. I promise you.”  
…  
Michael couldn’t believe he was doing this again. After that text he had received the other day, he really shouldn’t have gone over there. He should just lay low for at least a few days, maybe even weeks. If he stopped, then maybe this mysterious blackmailer wouldn’t have any ammo against him. And he always felt disgusted anyway, keeping this secret from his friends and ditching them all the time. Oh, if they ever found out…  
A groan of passion interrupted his thoughts and he looked down at the person he was thrusting deep into. They had been having sex for over an hour now, and Michael was nowhere near slowing down. The black-haired boy he was sitting on let out another moan, arching his back with pleasure.  
“Maybe we should stop,” he gasped, looking up at Michael.  
“Right now?” Michael asked, shocked and slightly confused. The other closed his eyes.  
“No, I mean stop this sneaking around,” he breathed. “Lay low for a few days. If we stay away from each other, maybe this blackmailer will lay off. And don’t you feel bad for lying to your friends like this?”  
Michael paused in his thrusting and leaned over to kiss him deeply. “I tried to stop a long time ago,” he hissed at him. “It’s a little late to be saying that.”  
“Is it because you have feelings for me?” he asked. Michael sighed and rolled his eyes.  
“It’s because I have an unfortunate addiction to sex,” Michael told him. “You know this. I’ve told you this before, you know.”  
“I’m not talking about that!” he snapped. “You could have done this with anyone. You wouldn’t have to sneak around your friends and lie to them if you slept with anyone else! So, why did you pick me?”  
“I don’t know, Mike,” Michael sighed, passing a hand over his face. “I guess I’m still grateful to you for helping saving me from turning emo that one time.” He narrowed his eyes at him. “And you could have said no! You could have stopped all this!”  
“No, I couldn’t,” Mike muttered. “I wanted it just as much as you do.”  
Michael thought about it for a moment before diving back into him. “Well, now this asshole is threatening both of us,” he hissed though gritted teeth. “I don’t think stopping will make him not reveal our secret anyway.”  
“This…isn’t my secret,” Mike said after a moment. Michael stared down at him for a moment in surprise. Mike turned his head so he could avoid his gaze.  
“Then what is your secret?” he asked the wannabe vampire.  
“None of your business,” Mike muttered.  
Michael glared at him but decided not to press him on the matter. He and Mike still didn’t like each other, so why would he want to tell him his secret? He would keep his secret from Mike if Mike wasn’t a part of it.  
Instead, he doubled down on him and him crying out with passion in minutes.  
…  
Cartman didn’t actually believe that Red was the blackmailer. He just didn’t want to risk his friends finding out about his secret. The one he had been keeping for a month now. He didn’t exactly remember what happened at that party. He only remembered getting drunk. And waking up the next day with Red asleep next to him.  
They both agreed that it had been a mistake, and they both said that they were never going to speak of it again. He didn’t think Red would go back on that. It was probably more embarrassing for her than it was for him. But he still needed to make sure that she didn’t talk. Or do anything else stupid.  
He went directly to Red’s house, and thankfully she was the one who answered the door when he knocked. Red’s parents sort of terrified him, and he tried to avoid them at all costs. Red looked surprised when she answered the door, and he didn’t blame her.  
“Hey Eric,” she greeted wearily. “What are you doing here?” Cartman took a deep breath.  
“Someone knows our secret, and they’re trying to blackmail me with it,” he told her. Red’s eyes widened with further surprise.  
“You too?” she asked. “But how did they find out? If they had seen us, they would have said something before now, right?” Cartman let out a long sigh.  
“Someone stole all of our secrets,” he replied slowly. “Right out of the capsule.”  
Tears immediately came to Red’s eyes, and she took a step back in horror, covering her mouth. “No! No, no, no!” she cried. “This can’t be happening! What are we going to do?”  
“Stay calm,” Cartman ordered. “My friends and I are going to find out who’s doing this. We have a few ideas, so as long as you just do what they say for now, we’re going to be fine. Panicking is not going to help. Got it?”  
“I think so,” Red said miserably. “But please promise me you’ll keep me posted if you find out anything. I don’t think I can take any more stress right now.”  
“I promise,” Cartman replied.  
As she watched Cartman turn and leave, Red felt a pang of guilt. Cartman wasn’t always as bad as everyone thought he was. He was definitely not her type, but she still couldn’t help having a tiny soft spot for him. She wondered if she should have told him the truth. It was bugging her. Then she decided against it. No one could know what she was. No one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m going to end this chapter right here so I can post something at least. Next chapter, we’re going to finally see the blackmailer in action. We’ll also get to see what happens when you defy Black Heart.  
> I’d like to thank the author of “Maroon to White” for inspiring this idea. It’s much different from that fan fiction, but it’s still where I got my inspiration for this story. I just hope the Revealer in that story is not the same as the blackmailer in my story. We’ll see.


End file.
